Yellow Carolina Reaper Pepper Review
I am unsure as to whether this yellow variant of the Caroline Reaper is a natural occurrence or if this variety is a hybrid cross. From what I have gathered online and through eating the ripened fruit is that this is more than likely a cross.
Harvested from a fairly short and compact plant, these yellow peppers certainly look like they’re related to the world’s hottest (Guinness recognized) pepper from a distance. Close up, the skin is much more smooth than any of the Carolina Reapers I have grown in the past, but they still sport that tell-tail stinger. Inside, the fruit doesn’t display as much placenta as one would typically find in the original red coloring. There is a nice sheen of glistening oils along the thin walls.
Just about all the ripe fruit that came off this single plant – and there were quite a few dozen harvested throughout the season – smelled more like a scorpion with a light floral trait and distant fruit notes. The flavor also carries that floralness and a bit of bitterness like citrus rind. The pepper provides a satisfying crunch with each bite.
They Yellow Reaper is a hot pepper, but the samples I took did not come anywhere near the heat levels I have come to expect with the original. There is a slow build up that stings the tongue from all directions, eventually plateauing at a fairly manageable level of burn that last a long while. The fire fades as sluggishly as it arrives.
I don’t know if my expectations were set too high for this particular variety, but I was left a bit disappointed. I’m not a fan of the flavor when presented as straight from the ripe fruit. Perhaps, as part of a pepper blend in a sauce or powder, it will do better.